Phoenixville lawyer donates $3,000 to police with firm

PHOENIXVILLE — A borough man teamed up with his law firm to donate $3,000 to “pay back” the Phoenixville Police Department for their service.

“The mindset that police are just paid by taxes is not enough sometimes,” said Tim Daly, a local lawyer and former borough councilman. “Businesses need to understand they’re making a profit because they have a nice police department and a beautiful town. Why wouldn’t you want to prioritize the police?”

“I think it’s incumbent to pay back,” he said.

Money from Daly and his law firm, Robert Snyder and Associates, is going toward an in-car camera for a patrol vehicle.

As a lawyer, Daly understands the importance of documenting everything involved in a police incident and the camera will certainly help that.

“Since we benefit for police work, when there’s footage of an incident or an accident, that really helps out,” Daly said.

Daly said it was Lt. Tom Sjostrom’s idea to get the camera after Daly contacted them to see what they needed. Serving on council for a year and a half, Daly said he went through two budget processes and knows the difficulties of providing equipment.

“That’s always the worst part of being on council,” he said. “You don’t want to be ungrateful to the police but you don’t want to spend the townspeople’s money.”

Since Daly and his firm rarely take on criminal cases, they felt comfortable with donating to the police.

By adding an in-car camera, Daly said it not only records events during incidents that could be used in court, but also promotes accountability by officers.